Coyote Myths

Coyote is portrayed in many different guises in First Nations myths. Sometimes he is cast as the Creator; sometimes as the servant or messenger of the Creator, and sometimes as a mischief-making fool, or a trickster, who may act for good, or ill.

In the story “The Great Spirit Names the Animal People: How Coyote Came by his Powers”, from Mourning Dove (Hum-isha-ma; Christal Quintasket), Coyote Tales (1933), an Okanogan tale, Coyote is despised and yet, or because of this, is given great powers to prepare the world for the Indians.

In another story called, “Coyote and the Monster”, a Nez Perce tale of Coyote as Creator-father, Coyote is portrayed as a wily benefactor of animals, freeing them from the monster who has eaten them, and then flinging about pieces of the monster’s body to create various tribes.